


No Place I'd Rather Be

by davecabbage



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-06
Updated: 2015-06-06
Packaged: 2018-04-03 04:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4085890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/davecabbage/pseuds/davecabbage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mako is going through a bad break up, but Raleigh won't let her go through it alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Place I'd Rather Be

**Author's Note:**

> I've been struggling to write any more for my two main WIP fics lately, but I've been desperate to write something and my brain decided to come up with something completely different from my usual stuff. Yes, I do write other stuff besides my main OTP sometimes (shocking, right?). Anyway, here's some fluffy friendship for a change that I wrote real quick today.

It was a Friday night and Mako was sat on the sofa in a pair of sweats and an oversized hoodie that was stolen from either Chuck, Raleigh or one of the triplets. She couldn’t remember which. It was hard to keep track after stealing or being given clothing from one of them at various points over the years whenever she got cold. It would have been a better idea to actually wear her own jacket but Mako reasoned that it was just easier when she had five friends to choose a loaner from whenever they went out.

Normally she’d be out with said friends having a good time and trying to stop one or more of them from doing something stupid. On any other night she would be otherwise occupied and out of the apartment. Hell, she’d even spend her nights studying in the library if she had nothing else to do. Mako wasn’t one for sitting around idly doing nothing; she hated wasting time and Chuck had often joked that she didn’t know how to relax. That was rich coming from the guy who had to spend every waking moment of his time occupied with something.

On a Friday night she used to spend time with her significant other.

Right, the reason she was here in the first place.

This Friday she found herself on the sofa with her phone switched off and not wanting to do anything. She couldn’t concentrate on her text books or her usual hobbies. She felt too drained to work out at the gym; there was no excess energy to burn off. Lethargy was a new feeling for her. And she really didn’t feel like dressing up or interacting with anyone. Talking felt like too much effort all of a sudden. Even her ‘conversation’ with her roommate thus far that evening had consisted of one word answers or hums of agreement and disagreement. Not that he had been focused enough to pay much attention anyway.

Mako was rarely the sit at home in sweats with a tub of ice cream and bad TV kind of person. She felt like a cliché right now, sitting at home feeling sorry for herself with a stack of DVDs lined up ready to watch.

She had had been through break ups before and they sucked – some more than others, while some were downright cathartic and freeing – but this was the first time that _she_ had been dumped. She found that she didn’t care for the feeling.

Mako had known that the relationship was doomed; known it for a while now. And if she was honest with herself, she wished she had jumped in sooner and ended it herself. Maybe she wouldn’t have been feeling as crappy as she was right then.

Her roommate and best friend on the other hand was rushing about their apartment that evening, looking for his keys, after he had nodded off and woke up late. Served him right for staying up all night playing video games with Chuck. Still, she took pity on Raleigh and woke him up when it was clear he wasn’t getting up on his own any time soon. She liked having him around; no need to give her brother any reason to murder him. Finding a new roommate to pay half of the bills would just be more effort than it was worth.

Raleigh flitted out of his room and started rifling through the drawers in search of his elusive keys.

“Shit, I’m gonna be late. Chuck’s gonna kick my ass.” He paused in front of Mako. “Hey Mako, have you seen my- ah there they are.”

Before she could get a response in he snatched up the keys that had been sitting on the coffee table – where he had left them – and darted off again.

Three seconds later he backtracked and stopped in front of her. “Hey…you doing okay?”

Raleigh had that slightly scrunched up look on his face as he regarded her. The one that both Mako and Chuck had teased him over stating that one day those little worry lines of his that he got would turn into permanent wrinkles.

“I’m fine.” Mako tried to assure him. She wasn’t about to drag him into this. It was her problem and it was no reason why he couldn’t go out and enjoy the night with Chuck. “I just don’t feel like going out tonight.”

“Mako Mori sitting around in sweats.” Raleigh observed. “It looks and feels wrong.”

“I’m allowed to be lazy too.” She pouted.

“You sure you’re good?” He still hovered nearby, his eyes flitting between her and the clock on the wall.

“Yes, Raleigh, I’m fine.” She asserted. There was no way she was going to tear him away from his own life. “Go and be insufferable with my brother already, before he complains at you for making him wait.”

“Right.” He nodded, not looking entirely convinced, but headed back into his room.

Mako sighed. Break ups didn’t last forever. The crappy feeling would fade over time. She’d enjoy her time being single. Maybe she’d meet someone new and start all over again. Maybe it would happen soon, or maybe it would take a considerable length of time. It didn’t matter either way. It wasn’t the end of the world and she knew it. She was a rational person. She would get over this. So why did none of that give her any comfort right now?

Raleigh emerged from his room again, but this time he had ditched his shirt and jeans for sweats and one of Chuck’s hoodies. None of them seemed to be in possession of their own clothes anymore these days.

She stared at him with a furrowed brow. “I didn’t think you and Chuck were at that stage in your relationship where neither of you cared about looking like shit around the other yet.” Mako remarked.

“I cancelled.” Raleigh replied. “And I never look like shit.”

Mako had photographic evidence of a hungover Raleigh that proved otherwise, but the only word she had heard was ‘cancelled’.

“What?” She sat up abruptly. “But- No. Why?”  

“I’m not letting you sit around all bummed out by yourself.” Raleigh slumped down on the sofa next to her. “What kind of a best friend would that make me?”

“No.” Mako protested, shaking her head. “I’m not letting you drop everything for me. This is nothing. I will be fine.”

Raleigh ruffled her hair – a habit of his that she hated, yet tolerated from him and Chuck alone – and shook his head. “Shut up and enjoy my friendship.”

“What about Chuck?” She asked. Surely he wouldn’t ditch him for her. There was no way.

“Chuck’s cool.” Raleigh’s phone buzzed and he fished it out of his pocket. “In fact he’s now asking for an address so he can, and I’m quoting now, ‘ram his boot up that stupid – I’m not saying that part out loud – ass.’”

Mako rolled her eyes. “Tell him that the thought is appreciated but not to act on it.”

It was bad enough having over protective parents, let alone a brother to add to that. Not that any of them would think that she couldn’t defend her own honour. In fact, she distinctly recalled giving one of Chuck’s exes ‘a hard time’ for screwing him around and breaking his heart. Not that Chuck had ever known about that.

Raleigh typed out a quick response and dropped his phone on the arm of the chair. “We’ve got the night to ourselves. Your choice in movies and take out. And no more about me going out. I’m where I want to be.”

Mako had opened her mouth to protest again but promptly shut it. She had forgotten just how stubborn Raleigh could be sometimes; she wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing that some of her brother’s traits had rubbed off on him.

“Alright.” She conceded. “But you do not get to complain about my choice in movie.”

Raleigh held up a hand. “Scout’s honour.”

She wondered how long he could keep that vow.

After sorting through the pile of DVDs and take out menus, the pair of them settled back on the sofa for a night of self-indulgence and ignoring the rest of the world.

Raleigh’s phone buzzed once more and he groaned when he checked it.

“What is it?” Mako asked.                                

“Snapchat.” He replied and held up the phone for her to see.

Mako peered at the screen for a moment. “Oh no…”

“It looks like Chuck, the triplets and a bag of…” Raleigh sighed. “… what I assume is flaming dog crap.”

“I forgot Jin knew where he lived…” She briefly entertained the idea that maybe, just maybe, no one would tie this back to her. There were plenty of people out there who might leave such a ‘gift’ on his doorstep for various reasons. She was glad that she had decided to switch her phone off though.

Raleigh held up his phone in front of her face. “Smile.”

He snapped a photo of a very disapproving looking Mako and hit send. “She is not paying your bail money…”

“Remind me again why I am friends with them?” Mako asked. Tonight she was off duty. Let the idiots do what they pleased for one night she thought.

Raleigh grinned. “I think we’re stuck with them now.”

“We should not have fed them. That was our mistake.” She agreed.

The third time Raleigh’s phone buzzed that night, Mako would have been lying if she said she wasn’t a little worried at what could have possibly transpired next. “Do I want to know?”

“Chuck and the triplets are on their way with our food.” Raleigh reported before dumping the phone on the coffee table where it would stay for the rest of the night.

She scooted closer and leaned her head on his shoulder and smiled for the first time in days.

It was a Friday night and Mako was sat on the sofa in a pair of sweats and an oversized hoodie after a bad breakup. She had junk food, stack of DVDs and her best friend beside her with more on the way to provide further comfort food and make her forget why she was even felt so crappy in the first place. There was nowhere else in the world she would have rather been or anyone else she would rather have spent it with.

“So…” Raleigh asked, glancing sideways at her. “Do Stacker and Herc know yet?”

Mako was silent for a moment, but Raleigh didn’t miss the brief widening in her eyes. “Tell Jin to erase his address from his memory.”

**Author's Note:**

> A link to the ol' [tumblr](http://davecabbage.tumblr.com/)


End file.
